ATA Response to ACCAN Consumer Sentiment tracker June 2026
June 4, 2026-
- A resilient Triple Zero service is fundamental to the safety of all Australians. Triple Zero consists of an ecosystem of multiple networks, a vast range of devices, and emergency service operators across each State and Territory – with regulatory requirements in place for each element of this ecosystem.
- In the event of an outage, mobile networks and mobile phones each have fallback measures designed to provide access to Triple Zero via other available networks, and these are regulated by the ACMA.
- The survey found that “91% of Australians agree telcos have a responsibility to ensure Triple Zero calls connect even during a network outage”. Regulation is already in place requiring telcos to do this. The Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2019 sets out obligations on carriers to provide emergency call functionality, even during outages (See Division 5.1). This includes requirements to ‘wilt’ mobile base stations in the event of a core network outage, and to carry emergency calls via ‘camp on’ when one network has an outage but another network is available.
- The survey also found that 89% of respondents “support government-mandated minimum standards for emergency call reliability”. Telstra, as the Emergency Call Person (ECP) for Triple Zero, already operates under strict performance standards, requiring 85% of calls to be answered within 5 seconds and 95% within 10 seconds. Telstra regularly exceeds these targets, with the most recent reporting period (January 2026), answering 98% of calls within 5 seconds and 99% within 10 seconds on all days.
- The survey is a measure of consumer sentiment – it does not provide an objective statistical measure of Triple Zero service reliability. As noted in the report, figures cited include attempts to call where there was no mobile coverage, and noted that reported issues may have been caused by user error or mobile devices.
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